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As always, another year has gone – and while 2018 has reared its questionable head, Bonesaw staff has come together to bring you another list of our favorite metal shows of 2017.

Summer Slaughter 2017

Anthony : Who played this year again?

Birdman: The headliner was Black Dhalia Murder playing “Nocturnal” in full. Then, Nightbringers and then I Will Return. Also got to see Lorna Shore for the first time. Their guitarist is a great neoclassical player.

Jason: Nice.

Birdman: Also was a throwback for me seeing rings of Saturn and Oceano again

Tony: The overwhelming amount of core is why I didn’t go this year.

Jason: Agreed. Big drop off from 2016. My first and probably only time at Le Chance

Tony: 2016 had a great line up.

Decibel Metal and Beer Fest

Jason: I guess my number five best show (improvising here) is Decibel Metal and Beer Fest. Featured Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Municipal Waste, and Immolation. I only went Day 1, but hooray!

Anthony: Nice, Jason. I wanted to go but could not due to money shortage.

Birdman: Where was this, Philly?

Jason: Yeah. The Fillmore. It’s a pretty decent venue.

Anthony: Krieg played too right?

Jason: Yeah, but didn’t do much for me. The three bands I mentioned were great, but the pit action wasn’t because it became a slip and slide.

Anthony: Did you get to meet your waifu again?

Jason: Nah, I didn’t see Kat again. I mean not in person, ya know. Immolation were solid and I have a selfie with Ross Dolan.

Anthony: That sucks. She was such a nice lady at MDF 2015.

Jason: It was also my first time catching Waste. Not bad live and pretty decent cardio from circle pitting, and, of course, I went ham for ANB. Chicken man had to restrain me once (he’s a friend who’s a MDF regular).

Anthony: I still need to see waste.

Birdman: Oh, they’re so much fun live.

Jason: Yes, they are okay. What’s your #5 Anthony Carioscia?

Amon Amarth and Goatwhore at the Paramount Theater in Long Island

Jason: When was that again?

Birdman: I think Crazy Dan and Marcus went to that tour in CT.

Anthony: In May. My friend asked me to come along, so I figured why not? Awesome show. Amon played a lot of classics and Goatwhore is always fun to see.

Jason: Sadly, I never saw those vikings.

Tony: Recommend if you get the chance they out on a great performance. Glad to see them after being a fan since 8th grade

Birdman: Oh, they’re so much fun. I hope to catch them playing a headlining set instead of just a festival spot.

Like this:

Although 2017 has finally arrived, we’re still not done with our best shows of 2016 countdown. Being metalheads, we tend to be a little more diverse than most give us credit for. To polish off our countdown, here are our favorite non-metal shows of last year – with hopefully many more to come in the new year.

Chris – Cypress Hill and Naughty by Nature at Terminal 5

Chris: I caught Cypress Hill and Naughty By Nature for their annual Halloween tour. They ruled and the place reeked of weed to the point where I reeked of weed even though I stuck to beer. You could not get away from it. My only complaint was that it was my first rap show and there were mostly white people there.

Anthony: My first rap show was Hopsin two years ago and he had mostly white people watching him. Oddly enough, it was the same type of crowd when I saw Mobb Deep.

Chris: Oh Hopsin is amazing. I’d love to see him. Such a talented guy. Perhaps I will get him on the pod in 2017.

Birdman – The Beach Boys and The Temptations at Bethel Woods

Anthony: Nice. Bethel Woods is such a cool place.

Lyon: And historic.

Birdman: Went more for The Temps, and was disappointed that this wasn’t a co-headlining tour even though it was marketed as the “Surf and Soul” tour.

Anthony: That happens a lot I’ve noticed.

Birdman: The Temps played all their hits and I bought a shirt of theirs.They had two. Meanwhile, The Beach Boys had two dozen designs.

Anthony: You should wear that when you play in Roargh! How did The Beach Boys sound for their age?

Birdman: On point. Their set was in chronological order.

Lyon: Sick.

Birdman: Problem is my dad was getting tired and we left as they were just beginning the songs from Pet Sounds. Mike Love’s a great frontman even if he’s no Brian Wilson.

Tony – Prophets of Rage at Barclay’s Center

Lyon: Oh awesome! I was hoping they would be good.

Anthony: The two openers weren’t my thing but this show was basically equal to seeing Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill on one bill since they played tracks from all three.

Lyon: Any originals?

Anthony: No, I don’t think they had any at the time. But it was cool to hear all three acts classics.

Birdman: Must’ve been. They have an EP out.

Anthony: That EP is mostly covers. There is an original song on it but they didn’t play it. Maybe they want to wait until they have an album. Mid-set they even had B-Real and Chuck D walk into the audience and rap Cypress and Public Enemy songs with the DJ doing the beats.

Birdman: Sick.

Lyon – Bad Religion with Against Me at Irving Plaza

Lyon: I’m not the biggest fan of the first band, but I understand why people are and everyone was really digging their set. Bad Religion is still fucking amazing and I pitted ’till I couldn’t pit no more.

Birdman: Bad Religion’s a band I really wanna see.

Anthony: Does Bad Religion still play a decent amount of their 80’s stuff?

As we reach the final hours of 2016, we reflect on our top five best metal shows we attended for the year. While there were many, the final installment of this countdown rounds out our absolute number one favorites for varying reasons. As for 2017, here’s to more headbanging, moshing, and great times for all!

Chris: This is mainly my number one because I never got to see Carcass until this point. Not only did that finally happen but I also got to interview Bill Steer at that show. He was a super nice guy and I got a free beer out of it. I was supposed to interview Ghoul but they have a lot of family in New York so there was too much going on. We finally did it a few weeks ago. Crowbar ruled. Definitely surprising as I wasn’t sure how they’d be live.

Anthony: Yeah, Crowbar are great live. I saw Carcass this year too but at The Chance with Inter Arma who were a nice surprise and Deafheaven who were…..ugh.

Chris: Night Demon was ok. Too much of Anvil meets Motorhead. They were cool but sounded too much like their influences. I’m not sure why everyone loves Deafheaven so much. They’re just ok.

Chris: My runner up is Conditon Critical and Game Over at Lucky 13’s. Mostly because Condition Critical are my boys and I’d like to think I helped break them in and put them over as they were on their way up. Game Over blew my mind. Very nice Italian boys. They were the second coming of Overkill.

Anthony: Mike is a cool dude. I interviewed him awhile back.

Chris: Yes he is. Can’t wait for the new Lich King album.Was also a pleasure to finally have them on the Thrash Bash this year.

Birdman: I guess the first reason it’s my favorite is that there was not a single bad band on the bill. Even Enforcer was mildly entertaining whom Anthony and I have mocked in the past. Leaves Eyes was a nice surprise as well, not too big a fan of symphonic metal.

Lyon: They do it well and Dark Tranquility is one of my favorite bands.

Anthony: They are one of my top melodeath bands for sure.

Birdman: And of course, that was a show where I got to interview three guys from the Century Media bands from that show.

Lyon: They played a lot of songs from their new album. The new stuff is great, they played a bunch of great old shit too.

Birdman: Omnium was definitely Rob’s favorite of the night.

Lyon: Omnium surprised me the most with how good they were, Swallow the Sun hits all the right notes for me too. And their set was long and great .Starkill was honestly really entertaining.

Birdman: Didn’t get to see Starkill because of the interview. Sonata was great to hear live again after a seven year lapse.

Maryland Deathfest 2016

Anthony: Didn’t go Thursday this year and I was sad that both discharge and Destroyer 666 dropped, but overall it was a great time and saw many awesome bands.

No locals unless you count the side bar as part of the fest.

Lyon: Sweet. What were the top three acts?

Anthony: Dragged into Sunlight, Demolition Hammer and Angelcorpse.

Lyon: Dragged is fucking sweet.

Anthony: Runners up will be Exciter,Venom, Hirax and Rotten Sound. I’m guessing this is it for the round table. I’m sure Mayhem, Nuclear Assault and Testament all sounded great there to. I skipped them for Magrudergrind, Infest and Hemorrhage since I’ve seen them all. Cool chatting without guys going to try to get it up for the end of the year.